REVIEW: The Walking Dead, S8 Ep4 – Some Guy

This week on The Walking Dead, we witness King Ezekiel suffer a major defeat at the hands of the Saviors, and he nearly doesn’t get out of it alive. He definitely emerges broken and shaken by the ordeal, his bravura persona for once pierced by a painful reality. The focus was truly on the failure of King Ezekiel’s attack, with a few quick cuts to Rick and Daryl being kick-ass and Carol taking out a bunch of Saviors single-handedly.

There were some flashbacks to Ezekiel and his people leaving their compound in high spirits and unwavering confidence, starkly contrasted to the scenes of everyone dead and then rising up again as walkers. This was the strongest episode of the season so far and the most we’ve seen of King Ezekiel. Always a figure of pride and bravado, whether genuine or part of his larger-than-life theatrical persona, he had proven to be an effective leader and a competent fighter. But for all this, the Saviors got the better of him and it was exceedingly painful to watch as he realized just how much he had lost.

He was injured in so many ways and his anguish as he dragged himself away from the pile of corpses of his people was great. Even worse was having to shoot down the walker versions of his friends, perhaps almost like losing them all over again. As one reviewer notes, he did not deserve such a loss, but it was also inevitable, especially after Ezekiel showed such confidence at winning.

There was a strange section of the episode where Ezekiel was at the mercy of this random, eyeglass-wearing Savior, who thought he would deliver the king to the Sanctuary. He was an annoying and completely unnecessary addition to a good episode and it was just a relief to have him cut down by Jerry before the end. So, as usual on The Walking Dead, a whole bunch of nameless characters were slaughtered but the two we knew and loved were protected by plot armor. Jerry and Carol came to Ezekiel’s rescue but had to watch as he finally dropped the “king” act and admitted openly that he was just “some guy.”

Another major loss was the death of Shiva, so much a part of his life and such a memorable character in The Walking Dead. While many fans will not mourn the deaths of a bunch of nameless human characters, there will definitely be tears shed over this CGI tiger. Shiva leapt in at the last minute to save her zookeeper friend and even in her final moments she protected everyone. This almost felt like Dany losing one of her dragons to the White Walkers all over again.

Ezekiel, Jerry, and Carol make their way back to the kingdom, but it seems like the theatrical charade is over, and the broken Ezekiel might finally shed his exaggerated persona and fancy speeches. The gruesome reality of The Walking Dead has struck again, and having suffered such a devastating loss, Ezekiel is bound to make some major changes.